Awakening
by empyreal
Summary: Heero and Quatre awaken in the aftermath of Trowa's sacrifice.


**Rating**: PG-13, because I'm sure somebody somewhere is offended by everything, and thus, we do the rating just to be safe.

**Warning: **Contains spoilers for the series.

**Author's Note: **Although I have been an avid consumer of GW fanfiction for awhile now, this is my first creation, ever…It's actually a section of a larger fic, which I have not had the courage to finish.

**Normal disclaimers** – I don't own GW, the characters, their angst….nope, I don't own any of it. How sad for me. And no money for me. That's sad too.

**Awakening**

"I tried to locate Duo and Wufei, but I couldn't find them."

Blue eyes did not turn from the softly lapping waves as he answered his companion, "Wufei prefers to work alone; we will find him when he wants to be found."

"Yes," the boy fumbled for something more to say, giving up as he watched the other youth continue to stare impassively at the sea. "Well I'm going to start dinner now." He turned and started walking back towards their camp.

The other boy did not respond, never taking his eyes off the waves. Ever since they had returned to Earth, he had been doing the same thing for hours at a time. It was as if he searched the ocean for the answers to the questions his soul cried out.

Quatre paused and turned to stare at Heero's back.

"Heero?" his voice was barely a whisper, but plenty loud enough to be heard. The silence stretched on, the waves crashing lightly in the background. Finally, the brown-haired boy turned his head slightly, acknowledging Quatre's presence in his peripheral vision. He never took his eyes off the ocean.

"Yes, Quatre?"

"I am sorry." It was a whisper, a statement, a plea. His pain screamed loudly in that soft statement. His aquamarine eyes slightly burning from the sensation of water threatening to spill. His lips trembling ever so slightly as he vocalized his guilt concerning the events that led the two boys to this beach.

Heero inhaled a deep breath of the sea air to ease the tightening in his chest at the boy's words and the memories they evoked. And with that inhalation came an opening of his eyes, becoming aware for the first time of his surroundings. He finally heard the lapping of the waves as they met shore, their hypnotic spell shattered. He tasted the salt in the air and felt the breeze ruffling his hair. With the sinking in of reality came the flood of memories. The void that had consumed him now exploded with life and the suffering that came with it.

It had been easier before they came to Earth. He'd had a mission, something to fill the waking hours. Even with Zero, things had been easier. Fighting Quatre, all of the emotions that threatened to surface were channeled into the present. Gone was his grief and sorrow. Zero let him do that. With Zero, there had been no past, and thus there had been no aching emptiness in the future.

But now there was no Zero, and on Earth there had been little to distract him. The void had descended upon him, and it had taken away the pain. But now, that void was filled with the emotions he had buried deep inside. He had awakened. And oh God, how it hurt.

Blinking, he realized it was almost nightfall, the last rays of the sun creating pools of blood on the sea's surface. Memories washed over him as the lapping waves turned to blood. There had been so little blood in that nightmare, just bruises and soreness to tell the tale. No, the nightmare had been full of not blood but tears, and screams, and pleading voices rising into shouts of desperation as their owner was slammed back into reality. _Well hurry and kill me, then go and rescue Trowa!_

Heero shuttered.

After what seemed an eternity, and his own awakening into reality, Heero turned fully to stare into his companion's eyes, "I know Quatre, but it was his choice. What's done is done."

The burning sensation in aquamarineeyes led to a slight leak of tears, leaving glistening trails as they streamed down his cheeks. Quatre ducked his head to stare at the sand beneath his feet, and after a quavering breath and two attempts at speech, he quietly asked "So what do we do now?"

Heero was already standing up, brushing the sand off of his legs. He walked over to Quatre and placed a hand on his shoulder briefly before moving on, calling over his shoulder, "We go on."

And as the boys walked back towards their camp, each trying to figure out how to go on from here, the sun sank below the horizon and cast them in darkness.


End file.
